MLB Trade Deadline: 20 wackiest trade stories in league history

Wackiest MLB trade stories in league history: 10. Boston Red Sox get Tris Speaker back for a bargain

It was an impressive career forged over 22 years of hard work in the majors. Tris Speaker is on the shortlist of greatest players to play the centerfield position. It’s been nearly 100 years since he’s swung a baseball bat on the professional level but he was impossibly great.

Reading off the statistics and accomplishments of Speaker is mind-boggling. He was an AL MVP, AL batting champ, his .345 batting average is good for ninth on the all-time list and he also has 3,514 career hits, good for fifth in history.

Yet, no matter how impressive he was, his career didn’t start off that way. In 1907, as a member of the Boston Americans, Speaker hit a pathetic .158 during the first handful of games in the season. The Americans, who became known as the Red Sox, sent Speaker to Little Rock’s Southern Association. All they wanted was the option to buy Speaker back for $500 if he developed. Well, he morphed into a great player.

During his time there, Speaker ultimately paid his own rent. Luckily for him, he turned into a Hall of Famer and the Red Sox were happy to have him on board.